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  • December 10, 2008 |

    Italy: Jostling for position

    Italian lawyers have a history of finding international law firms as unpalatable as a drop of cream in their afternoon coffee. Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, McDermott Will & Emery, and White & Case all bear the marks of high-profile partner departures, failed mergers, and collapsed alliances in Italy. Most have struggled to challenge the hegemony of the elite independent Italian practices, led by the trio of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, Chiomenti Studio Legale, and Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners. But for Latham & Watkins and Linklaters, history is no barrier to entry. Throughout 2007, both firms announced ambitious raids on Italian firms to launch outposts focused, at least initially, on winning high-end corporate and finance work. Linklaters made a series of hires from Allen & Overy and local practices Pedersoli e Associati, Bonelli and Camozzi Bonissoni Varrenti e Associati to build an eight-partner team of corporate, finance, and capital markets lawyers. In one fell swoop, Latham took a five-partner team from Bonelli, giving the firm its first Italian-qualified lawyers, split between Milan and Rome, to augment a US and English-qualified team of Italian specialists in London and Brussels.

    1 minute read

  • December 8, 2008 |

    CC announces bonus cutbacks for US associates

    Clifford Chance (CC) has become the latest firm to cut back bonuses for US associates, with the announcement that it is to halve its year-end payouts. The US arm of the magic circle firm will award bonuses ranging from a pro-rated $17,500 (£12,000) for first-year associates to $32,500 (£22,000) for eighth-year associates - a significant decrease on last year, when the firm awarded bonuses ranging from $35,000 (£24,000) to $65,000 (£44,500).The new figures put CC in line with its US competitors, after a raft of Stateside firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Cravath Swaine & Moore, slashed bonuses in response to the economic downturn.

    1 minute read

  • December 5, 2008 | International Edition

    Leading UK lawyers added to new Who's Who list

    Weil Gotshal & Manges City managing partner Mike Francies, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer financial institutions co-head Will Lawes (pictured) and Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Charles Randell are among a string of high-profile lawyers to land a mention in the 2009 edition of Who's Who.

    1 minute read

  • December 5, 2008 |

    Leading UK lawyers added to new Who's Who list

    Weil Gotshal & Manges City managing partner Mike Francies, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer financial institutions co-head Will Lawes (pictured) and Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Charles Randell are among a string of high-profile lawyers to land a mention in the 2009 edition of Who's Who.

    1 minute read

  • December 3, 2008 |

    Skadden seals hire of Freshfields Paris counsel

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has announced its second counsel level hire in arbitration in as many months. Mark Mangan will join the firm's London arm from the Paris arm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in January.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2008 |

    CC set to lose NY litigation quartet

    Clifford Chance (CC) is set to lose a quartet of partners from the firm's US litigation practice. New York-based partners Warren Feldman, David Meister and former US chief John Carroll have defected to rival firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.The departures come just weeks after the managing partner of CC's Washington office, Leiv Blad, left for Bingham McCutchen along with litigation partner Jon Roellke and of counsel Boyd Cloern.

    1 minute read

  • December 2, 2008 |

    Davis Polk cuts associate bonuses

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has announced that it is to halve associate bonuses, following similar moves by other US firms over the last two weeks, reports The Am Law Daily. The US firm says 2008 bonuses will range from a pro-rated $17,500 (£11,800) for first-year associates to $32,500 (£22,000) for eighth and ninth years. Those amounts match the reduced rates announced on 24 November by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Last year, Davis Polk bonuses began at $35,000 (£23,700) and topped out at $65,000 (£44,000).In a firmwide memo sent out yesterday (1 December), the management committee thanked associates, and noted that the year posed a "challenging economic environment."

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  • November 27, 2008 |

    US bonus season gets underway as firms cut back associate handouts

    Cravath Swaine & Moore and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have kicked off the New York bonus round with Cravath confirming that its bonuses are set to halve this year. Both firms have also scrapped the special 'one-off' bonus brought in during last year's boom. The decision means associates at Cravath will receive a bonus of between $17,500 (£11,700) and $30,000 (£20,000) depending on their year of graduation, compared with a range of between $35,000 (£23,400) and $60,000 (£40,100) last year. On top of this, the firm last year paid out a special bonus of between $10,000 and $50,000 (£6,700 and £33,500).

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  • November 25, 2008 |

    Simpson Thacher to cut associate bonuses in half

    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has announced that it is to halve its year-end associate bonuses, following similar moves by other elite US law firms. The bonuses, which range from a pro-rated $17,500 (£11,600) for first-year associates to $32,500 (£21,500) for eighth and ninth-years, broadly match the reduced rates announced on Thursday (20 November) by Cravath Swaine & Moore."The numbers are essentially half of last year's," says Simpson Thacher chairman Philip Ruegger. The staff memo, sent out on Monday (24 November) cited "the current challenging business environment" as the reason for the cuts.

    1 minute read

  • November 24, 2008 |

    Cravath cuts back year-end bonus for associates

    Cravath Swaine & Moore has cut back its end-of-year bonuses for associates as the tough economic climate pushes more US firms into cost-cutting measures. The firm's bonuses will now start at a pro-rated $17,500 (£11,600) for first-year associates and rise to $30,000 (£20,000) for seventh and eighth-years - roughly half of the base bonuses the firm paid during the last two years. In addition, the firm will not repeat the special bonus it paid out in 2007, a decision that follows a similar move by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom last week (20 November).

    1 minute read